I just bought these Navajo pearls but they haven’t arrived. I am wondering how to clean them up a little bit without actually removing too much patina. I just don’t want all that tarnish all over my clothes, which has happened before when I’ve worn pieces that were too tarnished. I read that you should just wear them and they will shine up a bit but this piece seems to be a little extra tarnished. I know the minute I get it I’m going to want to fix it up so that’s why I’m asking in advance.
The patina looks pretty nice in the first photo, but much darker in the second and third. If necessary, I’d probably just lightly highlight them with a polishing cloth and be careful to not remove the oxidation in the stampwork. Beautiful necklace and getting harder to find.
Beautiful beads! I like Sunshine polishing cloths the best. You can find them on Amazon as well as supply stores like Rio Grande. Just polish until the beads are where you want them. I do agree with you-I don’t like tarnished clothes either.
Beautiful strand! Congrats. Agree that hitting its smooth area will really bring up the beauty. You can’t go too wrong if you remove a little more than you intended: it will repatinate with air exposure.
Gorgeous pearls. Wait until you get them before you try to Sunshine them. Photos, if taken in poor light, can look pretty dark, especially with black background or if person taking photos does no adjustment on light, dark, shadows. You don’t want it to be overly enhanced but more true to the actual color. You can always use an old t-shirt to carefully rub them as the cloths are impregnated with tiny abrasives and a polishing agent. Rio has the pink and blue ones which are more or less agressive, but are out of stock. They come from Japan. I use their airplane cloths on my final finish on my cuffs, that also come from Japan. They last a long time, just like the Sunshine cloths.
Thanks for the info everybody, the necklace comes tomorrow and I’ll give you an update. I’m so excited to get it. I have several Navajo pearl necklaces but this is the longest. 30 inches!
It depends on how much granular or grit is impregnated in the cloth. Silver cloth mittens are much softer and contain no ingredients, and are used mostly on Silver services, tea sets, flat ware etc.,
DHT
Sunshine has a microabrasive impregnated into the cloth. It’s not exactly gentle in terms of removing tarnish–it gives startlingly strong results unless you take care to use it with a light touch and in small increments of work. It is well respected even among luxury watch folk, who are concerned with abrasives removing the metal. I first learned of it on a high-end watch forum. I find it excellent and easy to use but I’m super-judicious with it.
I got my Navajo pearls today and I couldn’t be more happy. I used a polishing cloth that I’d gotten from some other Native American jewelry I bought previously. I only wiped each pearl a few times to get off the tarnish.
Pictures didn’t load in the order that I wanted them. First picture is when I’m halfway done left side polished right side not. Second picture is the uncleaned necklace and the third and fourth picture are where it’s cleaned and I’m comparing it to a newer set of Navajo pearls I already owned…. One other thing, this necklace is on a wire instead of a chain unlike my other Navajo pearls. Any considerations or worries about that?
no the wire is fine, and very strong, just more of a question . The chains have more chance of wearing out from the metal edges of the silver than the wire, which is stronger, in my opinion.
These are gorgeous! How wonderful of you to be able to have these for Christmas too. Just beautiful.
DHT
Nice necklace; I think you did a perfect job! I rarely wear mine, but keep it in a tarnish resistant bag and run a Sunshine cloth gently over the piece prior to wearing. It just gives it that “glow”.
